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From:

http://www.paperstarter.com/beowulf.htm
The world of Beowulf is almost unrecognizable to the one we know today, mostly because of the
entirely different set of cultural, societal, and even familial values that are present in this ancient
world. Throughout Beowulf, the three most important values are kinship, courage, and honor.
While these are all independent cultural and societal values, they work together to reflect a
culture that puts a great deal of emphasis on someone holding true to his word, particularly
because the reputation and honor of his family depends on it. Families in turn are very important
because they are the source of identification (notice, for example, how no one is mentioned by his
deeds, by rather by who his or her father and brothers are). For this essay topic or thesis
statement, integrate at least three examples that reflect this cultural system based on kinship and
honor and write a conclusion based on why these might have been important factors (hint:
consider the transient nature of some groups, the higher mortality rate, etc).

A powerful and hideous monster, a King with no recourse and no champion, a hero
bent on righteous revenge. These are the makings of so many stories from western
culture, but they all start with Beowulf, the epic poem by an unknown author whose
tale of Pagans and Christians, good and evil and heroes and monsters comes to life
again each year for sad senior students sitting in rows wondering what it has to do
with them. Of course, it has everything to do with them. From defining a good life
to fighting those evils with which each of us are plagued, Beowulf is a metaphor for
living a life worthy of remembering.
Create an update to Beowulf for our time. Consider the following questions:

Does Beowulf hold the same values today as he did then?

Will he fight the same sort of villains?

Will his method of fighting them be the same?

Will the deeper battle still be between Christianity and Pagan


culture? Or is there another matter of greater concern in our
culture? Note: Dont reduce the deeper battle to political ideologies.
Deeper means just that-not just enemies and allies, but overarching
themes of good and evil.

Will he be victorious? Or defeated?

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